Lets say you live in a world where the world government has decided people are getting too addicted to the internet and ordered the internet to be shut down for 5 years. The 100 GB of storage is all you have (excluding essential system files for your Operating System). You have 24 hours before the internet is getting shut down. What do you download?
Wikipedia, kernel sources and some LLM models
I’d replace kernel sources with a full Linux distribution (unless this is already part of “essential system files”)
And some Stallman memes for good measure
I still have my old Ubuntu CDs no need to worry.
Is it 100 GB in addition to what I already have saved or 100 GB of total storage? Because if it’s 100 GB of total storage then I wouldn’t be thinking about downloading, I’ll be thinking about what I want to keep.
100GB is ridiculously low nowadays. I don’t think I have a single device in regular use (including my phone) with such small storage.
Just my picture archive (that is, pictures I took since I got mit first digital camera) is about 400GB.
But without such a low storage limit, this wouldn’t be a fun question. The point is to really think about what files we cherish and what are we okay with losing access to (for at least 5 years).
Can my current drives be placed into storage and returned 5 years later, or do they have to be destroyed? That makes a big difference.
All confiscated by the all powerful and #benevolent world government. Who knows what happens after 5 years, maybe you’ll get them, maybe not. But one way or another this internet addiction has gotta stop. Its for your own good, you know the government never lies, right? You are being liberated. Do Not Resist. 😉
I disagree there - I think it makes the question pointless as that changes the actual question to “what is the single computing device I decide to keep, after downgrading its storage”. Which in many cases will not even be possible.
You’re overthinking it. It’s 100GB that can be saved to, nothing saying that it’s 100GB on a single device and you can’t pick anything else
See other comments from OP where he’s stating that it’d be 100GB total, and anything else would be confiscated if found out.
I’m interpreting it as him coming up with a way to guard against people saying they’ll have 100 copies of 100gb drives with different stuff.
Just think about what 100gb of data you’d save from the internet, including any you have already downloaded prior. So you can’t just be like “I have 5tb of tv shows already so Im good on that front”
He stated “100GB only” in reply to my comment that I have a 400GB picture library - all own creation, completely unrelated to anything internet.
Total storage. If you have more, government agents might randonly burst in and confiscate excess storage. 😉
First thing would be to seriously look into data compression, and live with heavily lossy-compressed media (my music collection would be ring-fenced though). Throw out backups of physical media (take the chance on disc-rot); I guess any backups wouldn’t be possible in this universe anyway so it will all be left to chance. And then see what’s left.
I mean… if we’re optimizing for covert physical presence… you can hide these fuckers in tons of interesting places.
Can I assume that things like movies, TV, and games will still be available in physical form? If so, the Wikipedia backup is the obvious answer
Maybe, maybe not. Remember you are dealing with a scenario where there is a world government desperately trying to stop what they perceive to be “internet addiction”.
Guides how to create my own little internet with other people, 7zip and 99GB of RAM.
Lol bootleg internet?
I think I head about some place where people actually have a bootleg internet due to government censorship. Forgot where I heard about it.
There is big offline network of sharing data on usb drives in Cuba.
Viva la sneakernet
Sounds like a cyberpunk trope.
Nothing, because the rest of the world is trying to do the same thing and the internet is now essentially DDoSed into oblivion 24 hours early.
I wouldn’t be too worried. If the internet stops being a thing, we’ll just go back to physical media. I imagine there will be huge data storages that sell USBs and DVDs containing specific data people are looking for, so any time I’d want to watch a movie or something I would go to my network of friends and start copying.
Also known as the 90s
Dear OP’s world government, chop chop
Download factorio and dwarf fortress
A few years ago I was living in fear of local government turning internet into intranet north korea-style (dont ask). So - no joke - I’ve had factorio archived with latest versions of seablock, space exploration and nullius. Figured it’ll keep me going for a decade or so.
Add Rimworld to this list
And Crusader Kings 3
Best answer. The other 90GB is irrelevant.
As much of pornhub that will fit.
This guy will be rich in the post apocalypse
Email/PM everyone I’m in contact with online and ask them for their current phone numbers and addresses, and send them mine. Subscribe to 2-3 local and regional newspapers, and one good national or international one.
Offline contact info for every place I do business with online, and scrape a list of all businesses within 20 miles of home or work. Offline contact info for all the government agencies I or family or friends may need to contact for the next five years. Offline contact info for every local, state, or federal official who supposedly represents me, my family or friends.
A full listing of all my online accounts, with full transaction histories. Copies of all Terms of Service and privacy policies, copies of all warranty, repair and refund policies.
Phone numbers of my favorite restaurants and copies of their current menus. Phone numbers, addresses, visitor information, prices and (where applicable) attraction information for all museums, parks and other attractions in my area.
All my archived email or stored files that’s still on a server somewhere. Copies of every single bookmark on every device I have. And copies of every story on AO3.
Godot, Blender, Gimp, latest tutorial series for all three, Wikipedia (which I already have), music, fill the rest with art assets.
If I can’t download games I will simply make them.
Aside from the fact that playing something youve created is an entirely different experience to discovering something unexpected that someone else has created, you would need space to store your created games still.
I mean, just because the Internet is down doesn’t mean you can’t go buy another hard drive in a brick and mortar store later.
100GB?? I’d be more worried about WTF will happen to the rest of my 100TB of storage
Confiscated by order of the benevolent United Nations world government.
You are being liberated from the Internet Opium, do not resist.
Math, science, chemistry, carpentry, gardening, and mechanical/engineering texts.
And repair manuals /guides for everything i own.
All the music on my playlists.
Porn.
Porn
Yeah obviously, but what about the rest of my 10s of TBs of porn?
The internet is going down for 5 years? Books and video instructions about farming prolly, I’ll probably be unemployed if there’s no Internet.
I have a library card and they have plenty bluerays and audiobooks there. I think I’d download all Debian packages and maybe some pornography? Because that seems to be missing in the city library for some reason.
Petition to have Debian packages back in city libraries
Petition to have pornography back in city libraries
100 GB
looks at my nas, already stuffed with several TB of content, chuckling
Some panic, while others were ready since the dawn of time. I’ll add that extra 100 gigs to my drive collection though…
(it’s lots of games, media, and yiff. And yeah, it is enough to hold me over for 5 years. No, you can’t see it. :p)
